I never thought of eating at Chelsea until a couple of friends raved on how good the food there was. If I remember it correctly, it used to be situated at a different & smaller location at Serendra, right? So when I finally went there for the first time, I was happy to see how much bigger the place was & was even happier to see that it was also a “market”, selling imported spices, etc.! 😀

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take photos of the restaurant, but the interior gave off a chic vibe that was visually pleasant.

I was glad to see a complimentary starter that was a notch higher than the others. I loved everything here! 🙂 Everything was perfect! The foccacia bread was perfectly baked. It was warm & delicious. The garlic was perfectly roasted too. I thought all the components went well together.

I didn’t have a lot of time to choose through their extensive menu, so I easily chose something that contained something that I love–what else? Truffle! 😛

Truffled 3 Mushroom Cream Fettucine

with double-smoked bacon ‘lardons’, fresh basil & parmesan shavings

I’m very particular about my truffle pasta. It has to smell AND taste like truffle. Otherwise, if it only smells like it, it’s no good for me. Chelsea’s version didn’t quite reach the passing mark when it comes to tasting like truffle, though it smelled like it. Nevertheless, the taste of the pasta dish as a whole well-compensated for its lack in tasting like truffle, pulling its score three notches higher. It was very creamy–the kind of creamy that’s velvety. I loooved the freshness of the mushrooms. It was succulent & mouth-watering. The slight saltiness of the lardons matched the creaminess of the sauce beautifully.

Another entree we had was their:

Burger with Truffled Mushroom and Gruyere

with Home Fries and House Salad

As if my craving for anything with truffle wasn’t enough, I ordered another entree that had truffle in it 😛 I was so excited to try this! 😀 I noticed that everytime my expectations were high though, I tend to get disappointed 😦 So, needless to say, this was just okay for us… My friend thought it was ‘ordinary’, though a burger with truffle is never ordinary. I guess it was because the patty dried up a bit.. I had it cooked medium well, remembering what my cousin, who’s a chef in Vancouver, said that it is illegal to cook burger patties that are not well done, in where she’s from, due to health precautions. I opted to have it cooked medium well hoping it wouldn’t dry up, but unfortunately, the opposite happened.

With what I have previously mentioned in my post about Parmigiano, I would automatically order this if I see this in the menu:

Strawberry Lemonade

This was quite distinct compared to the ones I’ve had from other dining establishments. It wasn’t too sweet and had just the right balance of sweet and sour.

To cap off our meal, we ordered their “Best Seller”:

Chelsea’s “Famous” Choc-Nut Valrhona Cake

Chelsea has an array of different cakes that made it hard for me to choose. In the end, one of the waiters recommended their best-seller–their “Famous” Choc-Nut Valrhona Cake. It’s always a delight to see new ideas incorporated & made into successful culinary collaborations. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like Choc-Nut & Valrhona chocolate. It is a genius contradiction of inexpensive & luxurious. And having a penchant for sweets such as chocolates, the waiter’s recommendation was at the top of my list. Well, how should I describe this? It was very chocolatey. It wasn’t sweet & unfortunately, I didn’t taste so much of the Choc-Nut in the cake. I then realized, I should have just ordered the Four Layer Toblerone Torte instead! 😀

I had a wonderful dining experience at Chelsea 🙂 I loved the ambiance, the service was impeccable, the prices were a bit high though, but the food was good. Overall, I give Chelsea a 4 out 5 stars! I’m looking forward to dining there again, hopefully soon! 🙂